Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Details of Saturday's Chicago Heights Meeting leak out

While I tried to attend Saturday's meeting at the Chicago Heights Country Club (I was told I could not enter, and then told that I'd have to leave the parking ), called by mayoral candidate Dave Gonzalez who mandated that all city employees attend or "face the consequences," I have gotten word back on some details.

City employees have been instructed to turn in contact sheets of 40 names by Friday. A vague threat was made about not turning them in, but Gonzalez is clearly trying to stay under the radar of the U.S. Attorney General's Public Integrity Section of its Criminal Division.

City Employees were told that they would be responsible for getting the names of their contact lists to the polls for Gonzalez, with a goal of perhaps half those names voting either by absentee or early vote.

Several Chicago Heights employees have complained to me about the stressful conditions they now work under. Gonzalez has placed apologists throughout the departments, and workers thought to be independent or non-partisan have received extra attention.

Again, it is illegal to condition employment at Chicago Heights' city hall upon political work for any candidate or party. It is interesting to me that while the County is moving away from openly violating Shakman, and I'd expect the city of Chicago to be less resistant to Shakman under a new mayor and city council, the South Suburbs is belatedly falling into a gray area -- openly violating Shakman and Rutan, but trying to obfuscate those violations. I'm not sure how the city -- well, the taxpayers -- of Chicago Heights can afford these corrupt practices, but until people stand up against the corruption, their tax bills will only get higher and higher.

If you are a Chicago Heights employee (or the employee of any city) who felt intimidated or forced to participate against your will, please call the Public Integrity Section at (202) 514-1412. You won't have to give your full name to express your concerns. They are eager to hear from you. I will follow up on this on Saturday, and afterwards...

I suspect that this is simply Faso drumming up rumors again. He's done it before, and it won't work. Gonzalez has the resources both to easily win this election and to lead the city. Faso has neither. At least he has some wanna-be political organizer to post his stories on the internet, though!

heh. i didn't become interested in faso until after i became aware of the extent of the corruption and abuse of power in chicago heights. i agree that gonzalez is well-organized and well-prepared. he is undoubtedly formidable, which is why he can do things like direct department heads to -- on city time and using city resource -- demand that city employees show up at the country club and take direction from gonzalez on his campaign. that's bold. it's also wrong...

having said that, i should add that i'm not sure i buy all that projection of strength. if gonzalez thought he was going to win easily, he wouldn't have asked department heads to act illegally on his behalf. confident candidates don't do that. only candidates that think they might lose cross that line...

yes, the spector of gonzalez' naked corruption has driven me to help out the integrity party. that's been made perfectly clear in my follow-up comments.

what isn't clear is why anyone would be opposed to chicago heights' city workers being made aware of the fact that they can call the public integrity section if they feel that they have been pressured to "volunteer" for dave gonzalez' campaign? if he did nothing wrong, then he should have nothing to fear. he claims he did nothing wrong.

i'm baffled by his supporters' objection to making city employees aware of their basic legal rights under shakman and rutan. but, then, i have no tolerance for corruption, and i recognize that this is an unusual position in illinois...

Where is the money going? There is NO campaign fund set up for the "Integrity Party" in Chicago Heights, and "Friends of Joe Faso" raised no money in the second half of last year. His group is known for shady dealings (see Club 390, etc.)... I wonder what the "Integrity Party" is doing with the money they raised last night at their fundraiser, for instance? I am sure Lisa Madigan will be interested in this question as well.

rather, you traffic in innuendo. faso, of course, has nothing to do with club 390. you made that up.

now i understand why. you support a dirty, corrupt politician who liked hiding in the shadows. because gonzalez is a dirty, corrupt politician, you're only recourse is to throw dirt on his opponents...

I am well versed in election law. If a report is not filed with the Election Board in the next few days, I will be contacting the Attorney General. The "Integrity Party" is clearly accepting campaign contributions without a campaign fund to speak of.